Johnny Ridden
"I'll be adding to my score today." During the One Year War, the Crimson Lightning Johnny Ridden was Zeon's #3 top ace, shooting down more than 185 enemies over the course of the war. He was so feared by the Federation forces that a full rank promotion was offered to anyone who could shoot him down during the Battle of A Baoa Qu. Despite his skills and infamy, however, Johnny was constantly mistaken for the Red Comet Char Aznable, thanks to their similar ace colors. Although listed as Missing in Action after the Battle of A Baoa Qu, and presumed dead, the Crimson Lightning has recently resurfaced in the service of Haman Karn. For an ace pilot of such renown, Johnny is a surprisingly laid back individual; he almost never gets angry or upset, and is friendly, helpful, and humble... with one exception. In his time away from the battlefield, Johnny has become extremely competitive with the Red Comet. He obsesses over his 'score' and how it compares to Char's, and according to rumors, the only reason he returned to military service at all was to bring his kill count back ahead of the Red Comet's. Background Information Johnny Ridden was born in NCA 87, the son of a Zeonic senator and his trophy wife. He is a third-generation Zeon of Australian descent; in fact, his great-grandparents were among the very first emigrants to space, when the Space Colony program began at the end of the Anno Domini calendar. Although Johnny's father was a senator, his grandfather was a humble jeweler; Johnny vastly preferred to spend time with his grandpa, who often regaled him with stories of mythical creatures. He was particularly infatuated with the unicorn, whose horn was said to give good luck. Many sought to hunt the unicorn and claim its horn as their own; as such, it would only reveal itself to a maiden who was pure of heart. Johnny thought this was pretty Goddamn radical. When Zeon zum Deikun died under mysterious circumstances and the Zabi family became the sovereign rulers of Zeon, things got kind of weird. As the son of a senator, the now-teenaged Johnny found himself the subject of much contempt from those who were unhappy with the regime change Zeon had seen, even when he attempted to do things like 'help them not be beaten to death by riot police.' It was on the worst of these occasions, when Johnny was in danger of being beaten to death himself after totally clotheslining some douchebag to get him off an old lady (who had already refused Johnny's help because of his status as a senator's son) that he first met Kycilia Zabi. A young Kycilia, seeing the boy's plight, intervened, slapping the crap out of one of Johnny's assailants and reprimanding the lot of them for being douchebags. This kind of sucked for Johnny, because he had to go to a gala event later that night. He showed up covered in bruises, and was generally super uncomfortable. Seeing this, Kycilia - who was present - invited him to dance. As they did, she apologized for the behavior of her father's soldiers, and assured Johnny that most of the Zeon military were proud, noble men who loved their country and would gladly die fighting to defend it. Johnny was easily convinced, and indeed even began to feel similar emotions regarding Zeon swelling up within him. It probably helped that he was dancing with a beautiful girl while he was told this, which Johnny thought was pretty Goddamn radical. Skip forward to NCA 119: a 22-year old Johnny Ridden enlists in the Defense Force, spurred on by rumors of war among the citizens of Zeon. Along with the rest of his batch of recruits, Johnny is fast-tracked through the military academy in preparation for the upcoming war. When he graduates, he is made a Mobile Suit pilot in the newly formed Mobile Assault Force, and placed in the cockpit of an MS-06C Zaku II. As it so happens, the commander of the Mobile Assault Force is Kycilia Zabi, who Johnny has not interacted with since their dance. At the first major battle of the One Year War, the Battle of Loum, Johnny Ridden proved his superiority over the vast majority of the Zeon army; in a feat only surpassed by Char Aznable, Johnny shot down three Magellan-class battleships in his Zaku II. However, when Zeon proved to be the victor of the battle, Kycilia ordered her forces to pull back, unwilling to risk the lives of her pilots on cleanup duty. Many of Johnny's closest comrades felt that were he not ordered to retreat, Johnny would have matched or even surpassed Char's five battleship kills. Johnny felt the same way, but wasn't really broken up about it, and he was far more concerned with the fact that being ordered to retreat early made it likely that more men in the forces still fighting would die without the Mobile Assault Forces there to support them. In fact, he was reunited in private with Kycilia for the first time when he went to her to lodge a complaint regarding being ordered to retreat early. It was during this discussion that the pair first acknowledged their romantic feelings for each other. Both in recognition of his astounding feats in the Battle of Loum, and on a personal level both as a sign of her favor for the man and an attempt to 'make up' for the slight he felt by being ordered to retreat early, Kycilia had Johnny issued one of the brand-new MS-06F Zaku IIs, still in limited production. She also granted him the right to repaint it in ace colors. Johnny chose crimson and black, and specially adorned the elbow of his Zaku with an emblem bearing a unicorn; a symbol of his loyalty to (and, in somewhat of an open secret, romantic interest for) Kycilia. He proceeded to kick ass all over the place in the following battles; his exploits earned him the nickname 'the Crimson Lightning' by his colleagues. Johnny laughed it off; although the special color scheme was a vice he allowed himself, he didn't like to gloat about his achievements. Flash forward to late October of NCA 110: Johnny, by now a Major, is pulled off the front lines to be a part of the 'Chimera Corps,' a group of 30 Zeon ace pilots who are tasked with testing the YMS-14 Gelgoog. They spend the last few months of the war on (appropriately enough) the Zanzibar-class mobile carrier 'Chimera,' running the Gelgoog through its paces to ensure that Zeon will have a Mobile Suit that far outclasses those of the Federation by the end of the year. Johnny serves as the commander of the Corps' 1st Squadron. This also marked the true beginning of Johnny's personal 'beef' with the Red Comet, Char Aznable. Throughout the War, Johnny had many times been mistaken for the more famous Red Comet, thanks to their similar (though not identical) color schemes. When Char was assigned one of the limited number of Gelgoogs despite not being part of the Chimera Corps, or indeed even within the ranks of Zeon's top ten aces, Johnny was downright insulted; that was a Gelgoog one of the Chimera Corps would not be piloting, and it was an honor he felt the Red Comet didn't deserve. Much of this was fed by his rapidly increasing frustration over constantly being mistaken for Char, and the Crimson Lightning fixated on the fact that his kill count far exceeded Char's as a salve to his wounded pride. On particularly bad days - such as when Johnny was mistaken for Char in person - it almost bordered on obsession, and eventually Johnny began tracking Char's kill count as closely as his own. On one particularly infamous occasion he made a huge show of displaying to the rest of the Chimera Corps that his kill count was three times that of the Red Comet's. The Corps' testing was cut short when Solomon fell to the Federation, along with Dozle Zabi and the prototype Big Zam. Kycilia ordered the Chimera Corps to rally with the rest of the Zeon army at A Baoa Qu. Seeing that his lady was distraught by the death of her brother and Zeon's sudden position on the defensive, Johnny took Kycilia aside and presented her with an amulet adorned with the image of a unicorn, 'officially' declaring his love for her. During the Battle of A Baoa Qu, Johnny fought bravely in his custom Gelgoog to defend the homeland he loved; despite being oft mistaken for Char, Johnny was a recognized pilot in his own right, and he was so feared by the Federation that a full rank promotion was offered to any pilot who managed to shoot him down. Even when it was clear that the battle was lost, and A Baoa Qu would be Zeon's last stand, Johnny fought on to protect the woman he loved. Unbeknownst to him, of course, Kycilia had been decapitated by a Goddamn bazooka, killed by the hand of the very man Johnny disliked most, Char Aznable. Johnny cut a path through the Federation forces for Kycilia's ship to escape; as the damaged Chimera drifted aimlessly into space, Johnny personally shot down over two dozen Federation mobile suits in his Gelgoog, engaging them all simultaneously. Although he emerged victorious, his Gelgoog was greatly damaged, and he was unable to pursue the Zanzibar... not that there was any reason to. By this time, news of Kycilia's death had reached him, though not of Char's assassination. She was presumed killed by Federation soldiers. Officially, Ridden was listed as missing in action after the battle, and presumed dead. He was promoted posthumously to Lieutenant Colonel, and his final kill count was tallied at 185 mobile suits and 6 capital ships, making him the #3 ace for the Principality of Zeon. What actually happened was that Johnny, with the help of a surviving wingmate, was able to retreat onto A Baoa Qu. Abandoning his ruined Gelgoog, Johnny re-sortied in his custom MS-06R2 High Mobility Zaku. He escaped the battle alive, and fled back to Zum City, where he assumed the alias Johnny Depp (yes, that part is actual MSV canon) and retired from military service. And there he lived, in ignorance and thus in peace. Presuming Char dead based on fragmented reports received during the Battle of A Baoa Qu, Johnny was content to mourn the loss of his beloved. Occasionally, he would hear tales of the Red Comet or the Crimson Lightning; far too commonly for his taste, the two would be confused. It upset Johnny greatly, even on the rare occasion that Char's deeds were attributed to him. It wasn't that Char was getting credit for his deeds; it was that the mixup was occuring at all. For eight years, Johnny lived in solitude, out of the public eye, and clung to his perceived superiority over Char, based on their respective kill counts. Also, somewhere in there he awakened as a Newtype; his ability waited until after he had been retired from combat duty for almost four years to awaken. Life's a bitch. Flash forward to NCA 119. The AEUG busts in on a Federation meeting in Dakar, seizing the airwaves. AEUG officer Quattro Bageena announces himself to be Char Aznable, the Red Comet. When news of this reaches Johnny, he is devastated; he had believed Char dead for many years, in large part thanks to shunning the news media as part of his deep-seated depression over Kycilia's death. The fact that Char was still alive - and still piloting - meant the one thing he had left was being challenged; his superiority over Char Aznable. His score. Johnny proceeded immediately to Axis, and officially re-entered the Zeon military. The chain of command, enthused by the return of the Red Com- the Crimson Lightning, granted him a still-in-testing Zaku III to replace the High Mobility Zaku he had brought with him from Side 3, reinstated him with as high a rank as they could get away with, and pushed him immediately to the front lines in the ongoing war. And thus play begins. Personality Traits Johnny Ridden is the coolest guy. Literally the coolest guy. Talents & Abilities Coming soon~ Relations Logs |ordermethod = title |notcategory = cutscenes |suppresserrors = yes }} Category:Newtypes Category:Katharon